Sweetie Belle's Allergy

“There! Done!”

Scootaloo placed the third cup on the table, alongside a huge pitcher of punch, a big bowl of apples and bananas, and a large plate of sandwiches.

Apple Bloom stared at the food before them. “Awesome!” said the yellow earth pony filly with the pink bow in her mane. “So, when can we eat?”

The orange pegasus filly looked out the window of the Cutie Mark Crusader club house. “When Sweetie Belle gets here. I wonder what’s taking her.”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Ah can go over and check,” she said in her southern accent. “She said she’d be doin’ important things with Rarity, like helping her make dresses.”

Scootaloo went back to check on the food. “I hope this doesn’t take too long. I worked hard on those sandwiches. Halfway through, I ran out of ingredients, and I had to go over to Pinkie Pie’s to borrow some more!”

“I’m here!” The two heard a loud squeaky voice from outside. They looked out the window and saw Sweetie Belle walking over to the treehouse steps. The white unicorn filly had a bunch of hair bows in her pink and purple mane.

“I’m here,” she said again. “I’m sorry I took so long. Rarity forced me to dress up in the most embarrassing costume you can imagine!” She pulled the last of the hair bows out. “So, what did you guys prepare for our big CMC snacktime?”

“We wanted to surprise you!” said Apple Bloom. As soon as Sweetie Belle trotted into the treehouse, Scootaloo pointed over to the table.

“See?” said the pegasus excitedly. “We added the punch like you asked! Apple Bloom came up with the apples and bananas, and I made a bunch of sandwiches!”

“That sounds great!” Sweetie Belle said, her eyes beaming.

“Now we can eat. You want the first bite?” Scootaloo held half of one sandwich up to Sweetie Belle’s face.

Sweetie Belle smelled the sandwich. The smell of something familiar hit her nostrils, causing her to gag.

“What’s the matter, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo sighed. “It went bad, didn’t it?” She put the sandwich back on the plate. “I’m sorry. You were taking a long time, and…”

Sweetie Belle began to breathe harder and harder as she clumsily trotted around the treehouse in circles.

“Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked. “Are you okay?”

Sweetie Belle’s breathing slowly turned into gasping before she fell onto the floor. Her face turned reddish purple.

Apple Bloom’s look of worry turned into panic. “Ah think somethin’s wrong with her!” she shouted. She turned to Scootaloo. “Quick! You stay with her! I’ll go get Applejack!”

Scootaloo sat down next to the gasping filly as Apple Bloom sprinted out of the clubhouse and straight to her front door.

***

Inside the kitchen, an orange earth pony with a brown cowboy hat was washing dishes. At that moment, her sister ran into the kitchen.
“Applejack!” she yelled. “Applejack! Help! Somethin'’s wrong!”

Applejack turned to Apple Bloom, looking confused. She noticed that her sister was sweating and looking extremely anxious. “What’s goin’ on, sis?” she asked. “Is there another vampire fruit bat infestation?”

“Sweetie Belle! There’s something wrong with her! She came into our clubhouse, but then started gasping and fell to the floor! Come quick!” She dashed outside with Applejack in pursuit.

***

When the sisters arrived at the clubhouse, Scootaloo was standing at the door, nervously jumping up and down. “Oh, thank Celestia you guys are here!” she exclaimed. “Sweetie Belle is looking worse than ever!”

Sweetie Belle was still lying on the floor gasping. This time her face was badly swollen, and looked more like a purple-red balloon with two eyes and a tiny muzzle.

“Great jumpin’ rattlesnakes!” the elder pony shouted. “We’d better get her to the hospital and fast!”

***

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sat by the window of the clubhouse. Neither of them spoke. They just stared outside, anxiously. After a few minutes of this, Scootaloo spoke up.

“I hope Sweetie Belle is doing fine,” said the pegasus.

Apple Bloom turned to her friend. “What do ya’ think’s wrong with her?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Nurse Redheart said that her airways were blocked by her throat swelling, and she needed oxygen.”

Apple Bloom sighed and curled up on the floor. Tears began to form in her eyes. “Ah feel this is our fault.”

“How?” Scootaloo replied.

“She didn’t start goin’ into that fit until we offered her that sandwich.”

“But that sandwich was peanut butter and jelly, not cyanide and toxic waste.” Even though Scootaloo was trying to look confident, she had just as much a weight in her stomach as Apple Bloom did.

“Well, somethin’ caused that fit. And it was somethin’ in this here clubhouse, that’s fer’ sure.”

“Apple Bloom! Scootaloo!” called Applejack from outside.

The two fillies trotted outside, their eyes closed and heads down. When they opened their eyes, Applejack was standing there with Sweetie Belle’s sister Rarity right next to them.

“Tell me, girls,” the white unicorn said, in a cold flat tone. “Were there any peanuts in your clubhouse?”

Both fillies shook their heads.

“Well, what about peanut butter?”

Apple Bloom spoke up. “Well, Scootaloo made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and she offered one to Sweetie Belle when she started…”

Rarity held up a hoof to silence her. “That explains it. Follow me.” She gestured with her hoof.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other. Then they followed Rarity into Applejack’s house.

Rarity sat down on the couch in the living room. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sat next to her. Rarity spoke to the two fillies.

“Sweetie Belle is deathly allergic to peanuts. The first time she had a reaction was on her first Nightmare Night. She was only five.”

Tears filled the unicorn’s eyes. “She bit into a peanut-butter chocolate bar, then began to suffocate. We had to take her into the hospital. None of us, not even the nurses, were sure she was going to make it.”

She paused for a bit and quietly sobbed into her hooves, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo quietly looking at each other. Then Rarity stopped crying, and her mood quickly changed.

“YOU LITTLE BEASTS!” she screamed at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who jumped back in shock with their eyes wide open. “I ALMOST LOST MY SISTER LAST TIME! THIS TIME I MIGHT LOSE HER AGAIN, AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! I HOPE YOU TWO BRATS ARE HAPPY!”

Suddenly, she felt a tug at her tail. She turned around to Applejack, who spat the tail out and spoke.

“Now, Rarity. It was an accident. They didn’t know. Ah’m sure they understand, and are gonna be more careful next time. Aren’t you two?”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded.

“See? Plus ah spoke with Nurse Redheart. She made the injection, and Sweetie’s startin’ to recover. You can even come in and see her.”

***

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both felt like they had a knife in their sides as they trotted into the hospital waiting room. To their surprise, Sweetie Belle was standing in the middle of the room and looking completely fine. In fact, she looked even perkier than she did earlier today.

“Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked. “Are you okay?”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “I’m fine now.”

“Me and Apple Bloom wanted to say…”

“I know you’re sorry,” Sweetie interrupted. “And I can forgive you guys. You just didn’t know.”

“But…but…” Apple Bloom stuttered. “We could’ve KILLED you!”

“But you didn’t,” Sweetie Belle replied, smiling. “And that’s all that matters.” She lifted up both forelegs, embracing her two fellow Crusaders in a hug.

As the fillies walked home with their sisters, they discussed what to do about the CMC snacktime.

“Well, first of all, we’ll obviously have to dispose of the sandwiches,” said Apple Bloom.

“I feel kinda bummed about that,” replied Scootaloo. “I worked hard on those. But I don’t have a problem with making new ones. How about cream cheese and jelly?”

Sweetie Belle leapt into the air. “I love cream cheese!” she squeaked.

“Then it’s settled,” said Apple Bloom. “We can have our CMC snacktime with punch, apples, bananas, and cream cheese and jelly sandwiches.”